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Classroom Update 11/15/16

Well, it’s that time again! Let’s find out what is happening in our class.

Western Civ

We are just about to move on from Ancient Greece, after learning about the importance of the Battle of Thermopile and Alexander the Great. We looked into how the sacrifice of the 300 Spartans allowed the Greece city states to fight together in order to defeat the Persians. Then we asked the ultimate question. Was Alexander the Great really great? By looking at the both the good and the bad aspects of Alexander’s short rule, the students made a decision if perhaps he actually deserved the title “The Great”. After our upcoming unit test, we will be jumping into the world of Ancient Rome! From the foundations all the way to, Julius Caesar, the fights of the gladiators and evil dictators, we will learn it all. Moving along in Western Civ.

Global Studies

Hold on tight! The Global Studies students are now learning about how revolution began in North Africa/Middle East, also known as the Arab Springs. Beginning with the start of the revolution with the fruit vendor in Tunisia, the students and I have jumped from Egypt, Libya, Jordan and other places to see how revolution spread. We have talked about different dictators, presidents and military leaders that corrupted and oppressed their people, and how eventually revolt began. However, this revolution has been different than any others in the past? What could possibly make his revolution spread so quickly? Social media was the main reason that not only the community of these rulers, but the world could see what was happening as it was happening. A key turn in the world today, and the first example of a social/technological based revolution. Oh how times have changed.

Comparative Religions

Now that we are on to our third and youngest monotheistic religions, we decided that we would first try and understand the foundations of Islam. We took a look at the Five Pillars, or the five main rules that a Muslim must follow. Those include, praying five times a day, participating in the pilgrimage to Mecca, and giving a certain amount of your income to charity to name a few. We have also finished up learning about the beginnings of Islam with its founder Muhammed, and how he created the religion that we know today. From here, we are going to learn about the life cycle of someone who practices Islam and what they would have throughout their life. All the knowledge we have learned so far!